Privacy Policy

The following confidentiality and privacy information is taken from the full OCPL Confidentiality and Privacy Policy, approved by the Board of Trustees in 2014. Portions of the below statements have been updated to reflect current information.

Confidentiality and the OCPL Website

As library users browse through the Library's Website, read pages, or download information, certain information will be automatically gathered and stored about the visit, but not about the library user. The Library uses this information to help the Library make the site more useful to visitors and to learn about the number of visitors to the site and the types of technology visitors use. The data that is collected is not connected to any personal information or identity.

The types of information collected include:

  • The address (IP number) of the computer you are using.
  • The type and version number of the browser you are using.
  • The type of computer and operating system you are using.
  • The date and time of your visit, and how long you stay.
  • The Internet address of the Website that referred you to our site.

The OCPL website contains links to external websites not maintained by Onondaga County Public Library. The Library cannot be responsible for user privacy when visiting outside websites. Please consult the privacy policies of those websites should there be questions regarding their use.

Cookies

A cookie is a small data file written to a computer’s hard drive. They are generated by websites to provide users with a personalized and often simplified online experience. The Library website uses cookies to gather analytics. Certain third party database services within our site, such as OCPL’s subscription databases and 24/7 AskUs program may generate and store cookies on user's computer’s hard drives if users engage in such services.

Reference Questions

OCPL often receives requests for research assistance by email and chat. The way this information is handled varies, depending on the method used. For example, chat services keep databases of questions and answers, in order to answer future questions more efficiently, while email questions and answers are kept in the email service, to improve future email replies, and to allow follow-up on questions as needed. The Library treats reference questions, regardless of format of transmission (in person, via telephone, fax, email or online) confidentially.

eContent

OCPL works with a variety of partners to provide eContent (e.g., eBooks, music, and audiobooks) to our users. Before checking out any of OCPL’s eContent, users should read the privacy policy of the company that is providing the service in question. For example, users who check out eBooks from Overdrive for use on their Kindle (or via a Kindle app) will receive those eBooks via Amazon. Amazon's privacy policy describes the kind of information that is collected and stored in connection with such transactions, and we encourage our users to familiarize themselves with that policy before engaging in such transactions.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

As a non-profit agency, OCPL is not subject to the provisions of COPPA. However we want to inform users about it. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) went into effect on April 21, 2000. It places parents in control over what information is collected from their children while online. The law applies to operators of commercial websites and online services directed to children under 13 that collect personal information from children, and operators of general audience sites with actual knowledge that they are collecting information from children under 13. OCPL does not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13 on our website.